Over the period of the 3-day test that took place in Barcelona last week, the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Lance Stroll got 295 laps in their brand new Aston Martin car. With the change in technical regulations and a completely new generation of F1 cars, Vettel believes that the transition into the new might be quite challenging for many. 

As he said in relation to his first run last week and what he learned from it so far: “We did a good amount of laps and there’s still a lot to learn for me.

“The car wants to be driven in a different way, I am playing with driving styles and what I can do. Equally we are playing with the car, we are trying to sort some problems that we have, some of the challenges that we’ve faced, find solutions.

“So, there is still a lot to do, everybody is flat out and there is still a very, very steep, and high, mountain to climb. I can’t say at the minute we are seeing the peak, but it's fun, I think the challenge is fun and the belief is there that one day we will reach that peak, hopefully just before the season.”

The teams will still have more testing time at the same venue as where we begin the season in Bahrain in the second half of March. As Vettel said about the next test and what he could see during the test in Barcelona: “I think it is going to be a long year anyway.

“Everybody is probably in the same boat in terms of learning these cars and having certain troubles, but so far all is good.”

“I’m surprised there is such a big difference, I was expecting the cars to look more alike. It’s good to see that people chose different routes in philosophies in car design.

“Which one proves to be right, we will see; I hope that they are all right and would be great if all the cars are very close to each other and [there is] not a big spread amongst the field.”

The second test will start on the 10th of March and lasts until the 12th, followed by the first round of the 2022 F1 World Championship between the 18th and 20th of March.